Harry Tied to a Chair
by Idunn
Summary: Harry is tied to a chair, held hostage by a group of teenage Marauders and Lily, accusing him of timetravel he does not admit to. He decides to have some fun with the rules of timetravel, and play a game of yes-or-no questions. Just for fun.
1. Chapter 1

"Why did you come to the past?"

What? He hadn't come to the past, what were they talking about? Harry still didn't know what was going on, but he was stuck in a dungeon with five teenagers like himself. But the thing was, they weren't supposed to be teenagers. He swallowed blinking.

"What?"

"Why are you here?" a boy with straw coloured hair clarified. Peter was his name.

"If you are from the future, you must have a reason," the girl explained further. "Like, you must be here to change something, right? To right a wrong?"

Harry stared at her. It wasn't everyday that he could see a life size, 3-D 17 year old Lily Evans that he could hear and touch. No, wait, not touch, not when he was tied to a chair. He almost let the word 'mommy' slip through his lips. Thank Merlin he didn't. It was bad enough that they knew he was his father's son. He looked at James, who looked pensive. 'He's still digesting the news of me being his son', Harry thought. Well, he was still trying to understand that the five people standing in front of him (and holding him hostage on a chair in a dungeon) were his parents and their friends. He swallowed again, slowly. Then jumped out of his skin when a hand landed on his shoulder and a angry voice said to his ear

"Answer, you little bugger! Why are you here?"

Sirius shook his shoulder harshly, then walked away to stand beside his best friend, supporting him in his shock.

"Why are you here?" Peter repeated, his arms crossed like Lily's.

"I don't know," Harry finally managed to say. He shook his head slowly. He was doing everything slowly now. "I don't know. I didn't go to the past, I didn't."

"What do you mean you didn't?"

"I didn't do anything," Harry said, "I didn't touch anything weird, I didn't mess up a potion, I...Why are you here?"

"Huh?"

That was the first sound that had come from James in a great while, and it made everyone turn their heads.

"We go to this school," Lily said when she looked back at Harry. "We came here a few weeks ago. You know, to study."

"Then we ran into you," Sirius and Peter added simultaneously.

"But," Harry protested, his thoughts slowly getting together again. "But I ran into you! And you forced me in here when you found out that James is my dad."

"Of course we did," Lupin said, coming from the shadows. He, too, had been pretty much silent up until now. "Of course we took you out of sight. We wouldn't want anyone else to see you, would we? Would you want to be seen?"

Harry closed his open mouth when he found that the sound 'er...' was coming out of it without his will.

"The first law of time-travel is 'don't let anyone see you, hear you or notice you in any other way'."

"Uh, yeah, I know, but I'm not time-travelling."

"Then what are you doing here?"

Harry felt like Sirius was attacking him.

"I didn't travel through time, "he counter-attacked, "maybe you did!"

"No we didn't," was Peter's immediate reply, but Harry had an answer ready at hand.

"How do you know? Have you ever travelled through time?"

"Uh, no," of course he hadn't.

"Well I have, and it didn't feel like I did again just now."

The five teenagers were staring wide-eyed at him now.

"You've travelled through time?" they asked.

"Sure have," Harry answered, like it was the most mundane thing.

"You do that?" Lily asked, "In the future? Do you travel through time a lot?"

Harry was going to answer when Lupin stopped him off.

"Don't answer that!" he shouted, making everybody jump.

"Why not?" Sirius asked.

"Because that kind of knowledge is not ours to know."

"What? Why not?" Sirius got irritated. He wanted to know whether or not he would be going back and forth in time when he was older.

"Because it could change things," James spoke, and everyone went quiet.

Then Harry had an idea.

"What do you mean, 'change things'?" Sirius asked.

"Imagine I told you who my mother is," Harry said, looking at everyone's faces. His father's was red, he knew what he was getting at.

"Yeah?" Sirius answered, but Peter let out a 'ohh' as he realized what might happen. Lily was looking down, not daring to look at anyone.

"Imagine I told you it was..." he let his voice trail out, but Lupin shushed at him anyway.

"Don't say it!" he warned him. Harry grinned mischievously in his chair.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm glad you liked the first chapter. I hope I don't disappoint you with this one or the upcoming ones. Now, if you could tell me which parts you like, and which ones you don't like (I hope there's less of those), then I can put more of that good stuff in my stories, and keep the bad stuff for my bad stories. So, please Read & Review!

* * *

"Ok, let me give you another example," Harry said still smirking.

"No," said Lupin. His young face held a serious expression. "No examples. You just stay quiet about your time, and tell us how to get you back to the future."

"Ah, back to the future," Harry said now smiling normally. "That was a good one."

The teenagers around him didn't quite understand what he meant, but Harry didn't care. That was the point of the game, really.

"All right," he said turning back to Lupin, "Listen. I don't know how I came to be here. I really don't think I'm the one who travelled through time. Although I have no idea how you could have done it without realizing it."

"You really didn't come here with a mission, like in the movies?" his mother asked.

She was just like the pictures Harry had seen from her Hogwarts years. Her red hair loose, a shiny Prefect's badge on her chest, and an overall sense of responsibility around her that made him feel safe. Even though she was the one who had conjured the ropes that now held him hostage on the chair.

"No. I really don't have a mission to accomplish," Harry answered.

"What are movies?" James whispered to Sirius who only shrugged.

Harry turned back to Lupin, who he was used to having on his side. He found it a little difficult to believe that this was the same Lupin he was friends with. This one was, aside from being more hostile right now, younger, more insecure, and even less healthy looking, although more tanned, than his older self.

"I didn't come here on purpose. I wasn't planning on meeting my dad a- a- and all of you guys." He had almost let 'alive and well' slip through his lips. He swallowed.

"But I have gone back in time before, and I know the rules. I know about the dangers of being seen, heard and all that. And let me tell you that you are free to ask me anything you want."

He felt wicket. Sirius let out a 'woohoo!' and punched the in the air, but Lupin looked horrified.

"Don't worry," he said to him. "There are rules. And you don't have to worry about this having any impact on the future. Really."

Lupin didn't seem convinced. Neither were the others, for that matter. Only Sirius didn't seem to care.

"Really," Harry repeated, "You can ask me anything, without worry, as long as it's a yes-or-no question."

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Why?"

"All right! Dibs on the first question!" Sirius shouted.

"How does that prevent any damage to the future?" Peter asked, Lupin and Lily nodding.

Harry just smiled innocently.

"Yes?" he offered.

"What?" Lupin didn't quite catch on and had to have Sirius explain to him what was happening.

"That wasn't a yes-or-no question Moony! He's already playing the game!" Sirius was overexcited. "Can I ask the first question, huh?"

"I think James should have the first question. He got the worst shock of seeing Harry here."

Sirius looked at Lily with disappointed eyes.

"Aw…"

But he agreed with her, and thus gave way to his best pal, Prongs.

"So, what are you going to ask him?"

Peter had loosened his tie, and seemed to be relaxing overall. Sirius on the other hand was almost whining with impatience to ask Harry a question. They were all curious, even Lupin was giving in to his curiosity. Or maybe it was just peer-pressure that he was giving in to.

"Well," James said, "What we know so far is that his name is Harry, he comes from the future, that he's my son, and that he has travelled through time before."

They all nodded. Harry felt a little uncomfortable being talked about in third person when he was sitting right there, right in front of his dad.

"He's also obviously a Hogwarts student," Lupin added, looking at Harry's school robes.

"What should I ask you," James wondered, "Can I ask about anything I want from the future? But what do I want to know about the future?" His cheeks reddened and he sent a quick sideways glance at Lily. The one question he wanted the answer for, he did not dare to ask.

"Have some of your friends also time-travelled, or is it only you who's done it?"

"Uh, yes?" Harry said, thinking 'it's a yes-or-no game! Ask me questions that I can answer with yes or no.'

"Are you the only one of your group of friends who has time-travelled?" James corrected himself.

"No," Harry said enjoying their awe.

"That is so cool," Peter said.

"Now me!" Sirius piped in, jumping to his feet, "I want to know if I'll become rich and famous!"

"Gee, grow up," Lily scoffed at him.

"Given that he knows you," said Lupin. "Maybe he doesn't know us. We're just his old man's old school mates," he said.

"No way!" Sirius and James sent offended looks at their friend.

"We're best friends! James even promised me that I could be his first-born's godfather!"

"Oh, God, no," Lily said, putting her hand over her mouth in mock concern. "Poor kid! I hope you didn't James. If anything ever happened to you, Sirius would be the last man on Earth, in whose care I would want to leave my child."

Harry watched them all laugh at this, a humourless smile on his own lips.

"But we will still be friends after we graduate, right?" Sirius asked the group.

James took on a haughty posture and clapped his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Tell me, my son. Will Sirius and I still be friends after we graduate from Hogwarts, and after I get married and have my own little family to take care of? I will still make time for my old mate, won't I?"

Harry smiled at this.

"Yes," he said.

'The two of you will be friends until the day you die,' he was thinking. 'The rest of you however…'

The answer seemed to make his father and godfather happy, as they grabbed each other's shoulders, and punched each other playfully in the stomach.

"I have a question for you Harry," Lily said. She was laughing. "I want you to know that James did not make Sirius responsible for you in case anything happened. We are at war, you know," she was still smiling, but she was also being serious, "Being a godfather nowadays is a true responsibility. Tell me, is Sirius your godfather?"

He didn't answer right away, but looked his mother in the eye. Then he looked at Sirius and his dad. So young. They were so young. Then he looked back at Lily.

"Yes."

"Oh no!" Lily said, but she was laughing, "Poor guy!"

"Oho! By Merlin, I'm going to be responsible for a little baby! Haha! Hay, that means that I am responsible for you now. Or does it?"

"No," Harry shook his head. ´

"Not here, not now," Lupin said.

"But later, I will."

"Maybe."

"I hope not," Peter said.

"Yeah, that would mean that… I, you know," James moved his arms for explanation. "It would mean that I won't be there for him when he grows up. Not me _or_ his mother."

"Ah," Sirius said, looking at Harry.

They were all looking at Harry now, all of them wondering if they should ask the question written across all of their faces.

"So, Harry," Peter finally asked and everyone turned to look at him, "You know about the war, don't you?"

* * *

Sylkie: I like being mean ;-) Muhahahahaa!

spacecadet: Yep. And more.

Claire Franklin: Thank you. I will. Let's see if it I can keep it up.

kated123: See my answer to Sylkie ;-)


	3. Chapter 3

Harry became grave just like everyone around him at the question.

"Yes," he answered, "Yes. I know about the war."

"It's not still going on, is it?" Sirius asked, and Harry hesitated only a moment.

"No."

The teens around him smiled relieved, but he thought to himself that no, the war wasn't still on; It was on again.

"Yeah, well it's not that surprising," Sirius said. "It is in like, twenty years in the future, almost."

"Wars can go on for that long," Lupin mentioned, and Lily nodded.

"But this one won't," Peter said happily.

'No, that's true,' then Harry was surprised by his own thoughts: 'And you know what? It's because of you, Wormtail.'

"And did we defeat You-Know-Who?"

Harry opened his mouth to answer, but then the little devil on his shoulder reminded him of the game he was playing, changing his attitude towards the question.

"Define 'we'," he asked instead, getting funny smiles from his parents.

"Well, I don't mean _us_ in here," Sirius answered with a hint of laughter in his voice. "I mean 'us' as in our team. Our side. The Order o-"

"Sirius! Hush!" It was Lupin, hissing angrily at Sirius between his teeth. "Don't you know how to keep a secret? Sheesh!"

"Wha? I…"

"Sorry, ignore him please," Lupin excused to Harry as he went over to his friend to have better control over his big mouth. "He's blabbering about things that…" He ended the sentence with a sigh, shaking his head.

"But if he's from the future, and the war is over, and we were the winners, then maybe he knows about it anyway," Peter suddenly offered on behalf of Sirius.

Harry nodded, but Lupin was sceptical. When no one made a move, Peter took the matter in his hands.

"Did you hear what Sirius said?" he asked Harry.

"Yes," said Harry.

"Do you know what order he was talking about?" he asked.

"Yes," said Harry.

"Are you certain that you are thinking of the same order as we are thinking of?"

"Yes," said Harry, thinking this was going too much into details.

"So you know the Order of the Cat, do you?"

"What??"

"Pete! Don't say it!" James exclaimed alarmed, making Harry only more confused.

"See, he didn't know about it," Lupin said grumpily, folding his hands. "You should've stayed shut, Peter."

"Aw, what's the harm in giving _him_ information? Isn't it just _us_ who aren't supposed to get any info out of _him_?"

Lupin ignored him and turned to Harry.

"So you have never heard of the Order of the Cat?"

"N-no," Harry said, shaking his head. That he never had.

"But you said you did know an Order, did you not?"

"Yes!"

"So you were fooling us after all!" Lupin said, raising his voice imposingly, towering over the sitting Harry.

"No! No I wasn't!"

"What? Were you talking about some other Order then?" He clearly did not believe him.

"Yes!"

"Huh! The Order of the Griffin?"

"No!"

"Order of the Beagle?"

"No!" '???? What the?'

"Order of the Phoenix?"

"Yes! Yes!"

"Yeah right."

"Stop it Lupin," James voice suddenly said.

"Toldja," Sirius stated, quite happily, earning a rolling of eyes from Lupin.

"No you didn't," he said before turning back to a baffled Harry. "All right, I believe you. I just wanted to be sure that you knew and that we were not telling any secrets."

"Huh? What?"

This was all too confusing.

"Are you a member of the Order?" Peter asked all excited.

"No Pete…" but Harry, having suddenly understood what had just happened, was now back on track, and cut Lupin short.

"Yes."

He received surprised looks from everyone in the room.

"Wow! Really?" Peter and Sirius asked, breaking the silence at the same time, Sirius long gone from Lupin's side.

"But we aren't allowed to join in because we're too young they say!" James complained.

"Am I also in the Order?" Sirius asked excited, "Will they let us in? How old were you when they let you join?"

Harry was relaxing again and smiled at his childish godfather.

"One question at time, please, and be precise in your questions," he said and Sirius laughed.

It stung his heart to see Sirius this way, young and happy, healthy and laughing again.

"Will they let _me_ into the Order of the Phoenix?"

"Yes, they will," Harry said, prompting Sirius to shout 'YAHOO!' and punching in the air. "I bet that's what I'm famous for, I must be a great hero in the future!"

"Who said you were going to be famous?" James asked him mockingly.

"Oh, that's right, I never got answer to that question," Sirius said, turning straight away to Harry. "So? Am I famous in your _when_?"

Harry wondered if being famous was the same as being _in_famous.

"Nnnnooo…" he said, his voice trailing because he wasn't sure.

"I bet he's infamous," Lily sniggered. "Isn't he?"

'Yikes,' Harry thought, 'Mothers really can read your mind, can't they?' As the others laughed at Lily's comment, and Sirius stuck his tongue at her, Harry answered her question, grinning naughtily.

"Yes."

"What?"

They were still laughing, but with some concern now.

"You mean I'm infamous in, like, the Wizarding World?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Nope," Harry said, because he was still playing the game. He was not going to answer that question.

"That's really something," Lupin said, "And something to think about."

"Do you really mean it, or do you mean it in a weaker context, as in, his group of friends, or something?"

"Yes no?"

"Do you really mean it?"

"Yes."

"Not only in our group of friends and acquaintances?"

"No."

"Ouch."

"Not so good, is it?"

"It doesn't have to mean that he did anything bad, really tough."

"So I'm not a hero then?"

"No."

"Aw."

"Cheer up man. He said you were infamous, not that you were a criminal."

"Ooh, maybe he meant that you're going to be infamous among the Death Eaters, because you catch so many of them!"

"Heh, I bet it's the opposite! It's because they're going to find out that I'm actually on You-Know-Who's side, isn't it?" Sirius said jokingly, and Harry's grin grew wider and almost evil.

"Yes, it is."

* * *

kateg123: Always cliffhangers? As in, both chapters? Cliffhangers are fun! Plus, they make readers read more. And the next chapter. And the next...

Claire F.: Are you asking me for more details? Usually I have to fight the urge to write everything down. But this story is different from what I usually write. But untied him? Are you mad:-O gasp No way.

az-k-ban390chick: Thank you!

swivelchair: I'll give you the next, but you have to share with others! ;-)

TBooki: Thank you. I look forward to your comments.

Sylkie: Aaaand thrice now! Read Ender's Game, maybe it's not such a good thing to be singled out! Muhahahaha! About the questions they ask. It kindof got out of hand. But oh well. They'll be asking more about the war later anyway. Anything you'd like to know, you guys? ;)

Mecha Springs: Thank you, thank you! There should be more teasers about their personal lives later on.

Take care everyone!


	4. Chapter 4

"What?!"

"That's not funny!"

Harry felt evil. But in a funny way, because none of this really mattered. He could see that the others did not feel the same. They looked aghast, all of them.

"I am_not_ one of them!" Sirius pleaded, both to him and James and his friends.

"A-I know," stammered James, but he didn't move. None of them moved. They all stood still like statues looking at Sirius.

"You liar," someone seethed. Harry wasn't sure who it was, he had been watching Sirius's white face wondering why his godfather felt so afraid. The tension broke, but the atmosphere did not improve. Lily took a breath in, and then let it out before speaking.

"I thought you were telling us the truth," she said.

"Yes, we thought we could believe in what you said," Peter added, his voice almost shaking.

Harry wouldn't answer. He only answered questions. He simply looked at them. Trying to keep his face straight.

"Why would you _say_ that?" Sirius almost yelled at him.

"Why would you say such a thing?" James asked almost instantly.

Still Harry said nothing. Lily was hugging herself with one hand on her heart, the other on her stomach. He could see Peter wipe his forehead with his sleeve. They were all recovering from a great shock. He hadn't realized this would affect them this much.

James walked over to him, calm on the surface, with something boiling underneath. He laid his hands on his son's shoulders and bent forward to look into his eyes. He was really leaning on Harry, and Harry saw in his father's breath that he was doing all he could to keep his calm.

"Harry," he said, "my son." Harry felt guilt grip him and begin its steady crawl all over his body. _My son… oh no._ "Sirius and I have sworn an oath as to stand by each others side," he said to him, "through every hardship what may come, for ever and ever, until our dying day. We have sworn our friendship to last through everything. Always, never fading. We're soul-mates. Sirius would never betray me. I will never betray him." The pressure on Harry's shoulders lifted a little. "I believe that you have been telling us the truth," (Lily stifled a gasp) "but what you said just now… If it is true, then what you are saying is that I, too, will turn to Him-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and serve him as a Death Eater myself." He let go of Harry and took a few steps backwards, keeping his steady gaze on Harry.

Harry was wordless. What a speech that was. He made Harry feel so ashamed of himself for playing this game on them. They didn't deserve it.

But then again, they wouldn't remember it, would they?

Would they?

It didn't matter, because it wouldn't change anything, of that he was certain. But he could still feel bad about playing with their minds.

As Harry's mind wandered, Sirius, of all people, had already recovered from the blow.

"So, we all become Death Eaters," said, speculating. "Why would we do that?"

"We wouldn't!" came Lupin's voice, vehemently, "Never!" he shouted, "Don't believe him!"

"Ok, but I want to know more about myself then," Sirius said. "Harry, are you really telling the truth?" he asked his godson-to-be.

"Yes," Harry answered, his guilt less now, seeing how Sirius was handling things.

"Really really really the truth? You don't lie to us?"

"No, I don't," Harry answered. This might even be fun after all. Difficult and complicated, but interesting and fun.

"Ok, here goes then. I want to know as much about myself in the future when I grow up to understand why I would ever turn to the dark side."

Harry nodded and Sirius's questioning began.

"I know I'm infamous for serving You-Know-Who, but there's lots and lots of people who serve him and no one knows who they are. I must have done something to be worthy of knowing about."

Lily did not like this way of thinking but did not say anything. None of them liked what was going on.

"Am I married?" he asked.

"No."

"Engaged?"

"No."

"Girlfriend then?"

"No."

"You're kidding."

Harry just smiled. That hadn't been a question.

"Lonely Sirius Black," Lily said in a singsong fashion.

"Out of family altogether," Sirius said, loosely thinking about that fact. It didn't seem to concern him too much though.

"Maybe you did marry," Lupin said quietly. "It's war, remember. People die."

They were all quiet, digesting the thought. After all, it applied to all of them. Except for one.

"Maybe you all got married," Lupin said, continuing his train of thoughts.

"All of_us_?" Lily asked, "and why not you?"

Lupin realized his mistake, but didn't know how to answer, and, as his friends didn't seem to know what to say either, Harry decided to act as if Lily had been asking him, and not Lupin, the question of marriage.

"No," he said, hoping to get her attention off of Lupin's bad phrasing. She turned around surprises.

"No what?" she said.

"Not all of us will marry," James explained.

"Oh."

"But who of us will?" asked Sirius again. "Not me, we know that. And we know that James will get married. I mean, he has a son to prove it."

'It doesn't really prove anything,' Harry thought, 'but whatever.'

"Will I get married?" asked Lily, and Harry could detect a hope in her voice. As a girl she was allowed to dream about a family in the future. He knew that he would not get the same response from the guys.

"Yes," he said, and she was happy. But she was also very deliberately not looking in James Potter's direction. Harry did, though, and he saw the glimmer of hope in his eyes that she missed.

"What about Pete?" asked Sirius, when the boy did not ask the question himself. The way he became flustered explained why.

"No," Harry said. He had never heard anything about Peter Pettigrew ever having a wife. Hadn't the medal been given to his mother, when he disappeared, all those years ago?

Peter's face was red, and the others looked at him understanding. He wasn't a womanizer, why should he be, being only sixteen, but not being married by the age of 36 was indeed, embarrassing.

"And neither of us has a girlfriend or a fiancée?" Sirius asked, trying to save his friend's face. He could deal with the fact of being neither married nor engaged, he was popular anyway. Peter did not seem to appreciate the effort, his red face was grimacing. But before Harry could answer the question, Lily asked another one. This time directed at the Marauders, not Harry.

"Wait, what about Lupin?" she asked disbelievingly, "Don't forget him."

Lupin shuffled his feet nervously and the others were kind of sheepish. Of course they hadn't thought about him. He was a werewolf; he would never have a fiancée, let alone a wife. But Lily didn't know that. It seemed odd to her, to leave Lupin out, and she had not forgotten about Lupin's own words, when he left himself out of the context of marriage. And she did wonder why that was.

"I'm not going to get married Lily," Lupin mumbled.

"Why would you say that?"

Lupin just mumbled something more, incomprehensible. Lily was really surprised. Sure, Lupin was a bit on the shy side, but he was a good friend and wonderful person, and would make some woman very happy one day, of that she was certain. She turned to Harry when it was obvious that no one else would.

"Will Lupin here get married?" she asked him.

Harry thought about this very quickly. The Lupin he knew in his time had a girlfriend, a fiancée, and they would most definitely get married. But he hadn't yet, so he couldn't really say 'yes' could he? He thought very hard about how to answer that question so that he could follow his own made-up rules, and wondered at the same time about why on Earth he fought so hard for something so irrelevant.

But then again it wasn't irrelevant. Marriage never was. And to Lupin, if he could know that he would, someday, get the pleasure and happiness of falling in love and being loved back, without prejustice, that would be something to hold on during the long nights of the full moon.

Again Harry was cut off from his thoughts by his mind reading mother.

"I bet that thinking face means he's engaged."

It was a statement, and a true one too. Lupin laughed nervously, and his pals sent him pitying glances. Lily was just rubbing salt to the sores that would never grow.

"Don't ask him," Lupin tried to say, but Lily ignored him.

"Will either Peter or Lupin here, or both of them, for that matter, have fiancées in your _when_?" she asked.

Harry couldn't help but laugh. What a save. Or tease. She was really only asking because she knew that Lupin would be engaged. She probably expected Peter also to have someone special in his life. Well, someone female, nice and good, with a healthy tanned skin tone and normal-coloured eyes. But the way she posed the question, they could interpret it the way they wanted. Harry guessed that she was not going to ask for any details herself, she would let curiosity to those who the answers applied to. He smiled and winked at his teenage mother, surprising her by doing so, but he didn't care.

"Yes," he said, in a tone of voice that said 'of course!'

4


	5. Chapter 5

Lupin smiled weakly. Peter and the guys seemed embarrassed, and a bit sorry.

"What's with the sad faces guys?" Lily asked disbelievingly. "You just got to hear that you're engaged! Or, more like, will be, after twenty years or so."

Peter laughed a little.

"I guess you're right. It's just a bit... strange..."

"...to hear? Yeah. But it's happy news! Guys! Smile!" she waived her arms at them and got some, but lame, responses. "Ohh, guys are hopeless," she sighed, turning away from them. "Can't admit to their feelings. Ever!"

"Ok, enough about feelings!" Sirius exclaimed for an obvious change of subject. "We were talking about me, remember? I'm going to become an infamous Death Eater without a woman."

"_Because_ you're without a woman," James coughed, earning a slap in the arm from his friend.

"Because I don't have a woman then. I'll be so overly jealous of James's luck. But we're still going to be friends, right? I mean, we'll keep in touch and stuff? Or is his wife a control-freak bitch?"

Harry found it hard not to show any emotion on his face. This was silly. Had Sirius really been such a silly teenager?

"No," he said. "My mom is not an animal…"

"Feh, figures he'll stick up for his mommy," Sirius said, "But at least now we know that it's not Lily that James will marry because OW! What was that for?"

He rubbed his skin where he had been hit, but grinning all the same.

"You're a prat Sirius, you know that?" Lily said as she put her wand away.

"Hehe… At your service milady! Anyway, about me!" he turned back to face Harry, pointing at himself with both hands. "You know me in your _when_, right? You never asked us who we are."

"Oh, that's right," James realized.

"You just seemed to know all of us," Lupin added.

"So, we've met before, or rather, you know me from before!" Sirius continued. "You know me in the future!"

Harry just looked back, his face blank. No question had been asked yet, and Sirius didn't realize it. There was a moment of waiting until Peter gently cleared his throat, and Sirius caught on.

"Ah, oh, do you know me? The thirty-something me in your future? I mean, my future?"

One corner of Harry's mouth moved upwards. What a mess his godfather's mind was.

"Yes."

"Of course you do!" Sirius beamed all around. "I'm your dad's best friend, and I'm always over at your house for dinner because I don't have a wife to cook for me!"

"I'm not even going to say anything," Lily said rolling her eyes.

"So, are we good friends, or am I just some old guy who's friends with your old man?"

"Well," Harry said, deciding to answer this one with a whole sentence,"You are the one who forced me into this chair and held me down while they bound me to it… Do you feel like we're friends?"

Sirius was completely gobsmacked, but it sent the rest of the people in the room into roaring laughter.

"Hah! Good on'ya!" Lily laughed.

But no one made a move to even as much as loosen the ropes. Harry sighed inwardly. His arm was itching.

"Ahm sorry but, you were quite a threat," Sirius said with a serious face. "You still are." He took an authoritarian pose. "Now answer my question," he ordered.

Harry stared up at his godfather, who was his own age, and realised that he was not going to get out of there quite yet. Sirius could be scary when he wanted to. And sometimes when he didn't want to. Twelve years in Azkaban can do that to you.

'Ok, the question,' Harry thought, shaking his head inwardly to gain focus again, 'The answer to the question.'

He stayed quiet. It hadn't been a yes-or-no question. Sirius sighed.

"Stupid rules… Do I come over to your house all the time?"

"Hah!" Harry couldn't help but scoff when he imagined the escapee Sirius Black knocking on the Dursley's door every Sunday. "No!"

"No?" The Marauders all echoed dumbfounded.

"No." Harry shook his head.

"Do _I_ still visit him?" Lupin suddenly asked in a soft voice, attracting everyone's attention.

"Yes," said Harry, all playfulness gone from him. He knew Lupin still visited his parent's graves sometimes.

"I do?" Lupin seemed a bit surprised, but glad. Maybe he was afraid that his friendship wouldn't last. Harry felt like something was gripping at his heart. Lupin was such a sad young man, without any hopes for the future, that he couldn't help but feel for him. 'I never knew…' he thought.

Peter opened his mouth, most likely to say something, but Sirius spoke faster.

"Why don't I come over to your house all the time? Have you moved away from home already?"

"No," 'I whish.'

"Hm. Does James come over to my house all the time then?"

"No."

"Do we meet outside of our homes?"

"No."

"…"

"What…?"

The teenagers were getting confused.

"Do we, like, meet at all anymore?" James asked. Harry waited before answering. How should he say this? Could he say it in a non-blunt way?

"No."

"WHAT?"

"Why?!"

"You're kidding!"

"Why??"

"Sooo, do we still stay in contact? Owl or otherwise?"

"No."

"You really are going to betray us," Peter whispered, voicing everyone else's thoughts.

Sirius didn't know what to say. No one knew what to say. Everyone knew that James' and Sirius's friendship was stronger than anything. This couldn't be true.

"No, no no no, this is all wrong," James said grabbing his head with his hands. "I don't believe it!"

"Me neither," Lily agreed, and Lupin shook his head.

"Something must have happened, something must have gone wrong!"

The others thought about that for a while, all of them looking grim. Again, it was Peter who voiced their inner fears.

"The war," he said, "the war happened."

They were all quiet, looking at their feet, until Lily asked the next difficult question. She didn't actually ask the question that was on their mind, but something close instead.

"Will any of us… get hurt in the war?"

Without hesitation, Harry's mind listed everything they were going to lose. His parents were going to lose their lives. Sirius was going to lose his freedom, his friends, and his remaining friend's trust, before eventually losing his life himself. Peter was going to lose everyone's respect, all of his friends and family, making the physical loss of his finger and, later, hand petty. Lupin was not going to lose his life, but he was going to loose _all_ of his friends. Some he would get back, but only for a while, only to loose them again. Harry's eyes had dropped to his lap.

"Yes," he said in a voice so low that he hardly heard it himself. "Yes."

Lily's face was ashen, and Peter and James didn't look so good either. Sirius swallowed. No one commented on the latest answer from future-boy, but they were all thinking, wondering whether…

"You said that the war will be over in your _when_, but we still don't know how long it is going to last," Lily said, breaking the tension a bit. "Will the war end before you will be born?"

Lily, the mother, always direct.

"No."

The friends exchanged worried glances.

"Will You-Know-Who still be alive when you will be born?"

"Yes."

"But he is going to die. The war is going to end."

Harry didn't say anything. There was a first war and a second war. Or maybe it was just one war with a twelve year long intermission. And as for the death of Voldemort, well, the prophecy _did_ say that he might die. _Might_. 'Either him or me.'

"The war is going to end, right?" Lily repeated.

Harry looked up at her. Had it ended? Or had here only been a pause, a breather? Lily was getting anxious.

"You did say that the war was over. You said it before!"

"Yes," Harry said, ignoring his rules and looking back down. He didn't like this topic. It was all too serious and sad. Made him think of bad things. The prophecy. His destiny. He shivered.

"Stupid war," James mumbled, somehow gathering all of Harry's feelings into two words with a whole lot of emotions behind them, "Stupid, bloody, war. Am I going to die?"

4


	6. Chapter 6

Harry froze in his chair, wide-eyed, his head still down. A little movie played in his mind full of foolish little details. His teenage father asking that horrible question, "am I going to die", grimly, but calmly and he saw himself freeze. Then the door would spring open, giving the perfect distraction, and a boy, younger than the rest of them, would enter. He would have raven black hair, and a haircut like the Beatles, and his eyes would be dark. He would be holding the Marauders' Map in his one hand, the other, holding the door open, would be bearing a silver ring with a brightly coloured stone on one finger. His eyes would be blazing, and his mouth would be smiling when he'd say in a mocking tone "here you are! You shouldn't leave your treasure map lying around like this. A Slytherin might find it!" And then Sirius would shout out his brother's name, and all of the Marauders would jump on Regulus to form a pile, just like in the silly movies, or cartoons, in order to get the map back.

This little movie of his, with all its details, only lasted for a fraction of a second, and when he finally could raise his head to try to face his father, only a second had passed and he still had to answer the question. There was no way around it, no loopholes in the rules of the game, no Regulus suddenly appearing to save his sorry self.

But his mother was there, and she screamed in an incredibly shrill voice that reminded him of her relation with aunt Petunia, "_Don't answer that!_". The boys literally jumped, and Harry with chair and all, making a little _clunk_ sound on the stone floor.

"Don't answer that!" she shouted again moving towards the two Potters. "Don't answer that don't answer that do not answer that!"

Harry opened his mouth but was quick to close it when Lily _screamed_. No words, just a hysterical scream, sending chills down Harry's back.

"Lily!" James exclaimed astonished, and Harry swore he could see the goosebumps on his arms.

"_Why_ did you ask that question?" Lily asked incredulous. "Are you out of your mind?!"

"Wha…?"

"You don't go asking questions like that!"

"But Lily…"

"No! You're insane! Don't do that to me, yourself. Us, all of us here! We don't want to know!" she said exasperated. She was breathing fast, as if she'd been running.

"But I want to know," James tried.

"No you don't!" Lily told him loudly.

"Dude, we don't really want to know that," Sirius added seriously. "Are you sure you want to know that you are going to die before the age of forty?"

James seemed to be thinking about it, upset despite himself.

"Well," he said after a while, "maybe you're right…"

"Of _course_ I'm right!" Lily scoffed but James kept going as if uninterrupted.

"And it's not a good idea to ask that kind of question. For you sake as well as mine." They all nodded, even Harry. "But he's asking us to ask this kind of questions!" James suddenly whined, "he makes me really really curious about my future! And the future in general, me being interested in politics!"

"Everyone is "interested" in the war," Lupin said as Sirius nodded fiercely.

"I say we stop this game," Peter suggested with an air that clearly showed that he had already made up his mind. The others nodded, all wearing the same grim faces.

"I agree," Lupin said.

"This "game" should go no further," Lily said, still recovering her breath.

"I say we change this to an interrogation," James proposed and eyeing Harry who quickly shut his mouth again.

'Shit,' he thought, 'now I'm in trouble.'

The Marauders and Lily now all stood in front of him, forming a semi circle, and looking at him, each thinking his or her own. Harry stared back, a sweat drop slowly running down his temple. His hands were cold, but the itch was gone, thank Merlin. He tugged at the ropes as discreetly as he could with the lot of them watching him so closely, and found them still as tight as ever. 'Now what?' he thought. 'What will happen now?'

Peter was giving the others a sideways glance and after a while, Lily began eyeing the guys as well. James, Sirius and Lupin however, were still looking at Harry with great interest and deep in thought. Peter and Lily's eyes met in a mutual question, and Peter shook his head. Harry looked back at his dad, but didn't like staring into his father's brown eyes at all, and fearing Lupin's gaze, his eyes settled back on Peter. No one said a word, and all Harry could hear was his own heart beat. 'Is there nothing down here for distraction?' he thought, 'a clock, a rat, trickling water?' But no, nothing was there to listen to other than the teenager's breathing, which could hardly be heard, and the rustling of their clothes when Lily shifted her weight off one leg to the other. She had now completely given up on looking at Harry, and was solely looking at the Marauders with the same interest as the Marauders were watching Harry. Harry watched his mother watch his father and his friends, and then give Peter another puzzled look. She finally broke the silence.

"Guys," she said in a sing-song way, and they all looked up at her, arms still crossed.

"Wha?" was James's answer and Lily gave him a pathetic little smile.

"Don't fall asleep boys," she said, "come on, we have to decide what to do with him. What to ask him, what _not_ to ask him, and if we are going to do it here and now or somewhere else and later."

"Somewhere else?" James asked in the same dazed voice.

"Yes, do you think it's safe to leave him here?" Lupin wondered, scaring Harry.

"Don't _leave_ me here!" he said.

"We wouldn't leave you alone," Sirius answered, coolly.

Someone's stomach growled, and both Sirius and Lily put their hands on the front of their robes, wearing a miserable expression on their faces.

"We can still catch lunch if we hurry off now," Lupin said, but no one moved. They were not going to leave their prisoner from the future.

"Why did you come to the past?" James asked Harry again after a moment of silence.

Harry sighed inwardly, then answered that he hadn't.

"I told you, I was just walking the hallways, minding my own business when you guys appeared out of nowhere, and pushed me in here!"

"We didn't 'appear out of nowhere'!" Lily said sounding upset, "_We_ were the ones minding our own business when you ran into us!"

"And how does running into you guys give you permission to tie me down to a bloody chair?" Harry shouted, loosing it, then feeling very guilty for shouting at his mom, and then afraid of what they might do to him if he became too angry. But he did have a right to be angry. Oh boy, did he have the right to be. Suddenly he felt more angry than afraid. But he was still very insecure around these crazy teenage wizards and witch who were holding him hostage, and in desperation he thought 'I want my mommy!'

* * *

Thank you for all the reviews! I'm sorry for how long it takes me to upload the chapters, but the reviews keep me going!

Please keep telling me what you think, tell me what parts you like most, and which parts you like the least, so that I can put more of the better parts, and as little as possible of the bad parts (except cliffhangers, of course, you're not going to get rid of them so easily ;) )


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